Workaround Needed to Set the Path on Freemat

[alex.sta...@gmail.com]

 

I use Freemat in some of the math classes that I teach; I have found it to be the best MATLAB emulator (of the three big ones) for classroom use since it is so user-friendly and I can spend more time of the course concepts rather than software issues.   It does have some bugs though and the very generous team Samit Basu's (the creator) do not always have the time and resources to fix the bugs as the come up.   Anyway, our fall classes recently started and I have run into the following serious bug.    I am using Windows 7, 64 bit OS on a PC.  

 

Previously, when I used the path tool to set the path, Freemat always crashed.   This is a known bug.  But it was not so bad, I could just restart Freemat and all would be fine-with the new path that I had set now incorporated.    It still works like that on my old PC.   But when I installed Freemat on my new PC, the bug behaved worse.   After setting the path with the path tool, Freemat still crashed, as before, but when I restarted Freemat, there was no prompt showing in the command window.   When I enter any command (e.g., even something simple like 2+2) and hit enter, nothing happens.   I tried the usual things:  rebooting, uninstalling and reinstalling Freemat, even using the system restore and trying to start over.   I even tried on a fresh install to use the "setpath" command rather than the path tool, but the same problem occured.   I really need a fix for this soon, since we'll be using a lot of existing programs and writing some new ones.   If anyone can help with that I (and my students) would be most grateful.

 

I am attaching a sreenshot of the lame Freemat command window (showing the inputted commands, with no prompts and no outputs).   I will also post this bug on Freemat's website.

 

 

[alex.sta...@gmail.com]

Additional Information:   Once the Path Tool crashes and disables the Freemat command window, the window remains disabled not only after I close Freemat and restart it, or restart the computer, but EVEN when I uninstall Freemat and reinstall it on that PC.   The only way to get it to work (that I found) is I have to do a system restore on the computer to an earlier date before I tried in install Freemat.   I worked the whole day yesterday trying different ways to fix this (and trying to find where Freemat stores its path file (this is not indicated in the documentation).   I have thus far been unsuccessful and have now used up all of the clean restore points so at this point I am unable to freshly install Freemat (so the command window will not be disabled).  

[Jonathan Weaver]

I don't have a problem using the path tool or command with Windows 7, 64 bit using either the 32 bit or 64 bit FreeMat version 4.2. Any possibility to try it on a fresh Windows 7 install?

[alex.sta...@gmail.com]

A fresh OS install may work but it is time intensive so I would try that only as a last resort.   Some, but not all of my students ran into a similar issue this semester.   My guess is that finding out which directory in the OS Freemat puts its path file will be a key to resolving this problem.  It might be something trivial like a permission for a certain directory that needs to be changed. 

On Tuesday, September 9, 2014 12:57:27 PM UTC-7, alex.sta...@gmail.com wrote:

[Jonathan Weaver]

I checked a little further on my system and it looks like the path is saved in a registry setting.  On my computer it is:

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\FreeMat\FreeMat v4.2\interpreter\path

Changing the path using regedit changed the path next time I ran FreeMat.

[alex.sta...@gmail.com]

Thank you Jonathan!   I opened the path in my problem PC and compared it with the corresponding path file in another PC (also running Windows 7) on which Freemat works fine, and they looked similar.   But knowing where this path is located I still feel will be key to resolving this issue.  

 

By the way, although I did also post a bug report about this on Freemat's websites, it seems that they are a bit behind on them--the last bug that was addressed by the people at Freemat dates back to about a year and a half ago.  I certainly hope to resolve this issue with a shorter timeline.